Honeymoon is Over

Hey guys,

Sorry I have been MIA for a few days...and I wish I had better news for you guys but unfortunately I have had a bit of baby and mommy trouble. Baby is safe and I am ok but my perfect pregnancy honeymoon is officially over.

Here is the skinny....I spent the day on Sunday in the hospital (again, baby and mom are ok). The short story is that I was having pre-term labor and contractions apparently due in part to a fibroid (had no idea I even had one) that is sharing space with my baby that has enlarged to the size of a tangerine.

The pain started Friday night, was strong Saturday and in particular Saturday night (couldn't sleep it hurt so bad). Sunday morning my stomach was hard as a rock and felt like a baseball was under my belly button. When I finally called the doc on call on Sunday morning, they told me to come to hospital immediately. Jody was really upset and worried and put me in the car immediately. When we got there, I heard the baby's heart beat right way and it was strong (that was the scariest moment for us – waiting to make sure the heart beat was still there) and they hooked me up to the contraction node thing that measures contractions with a needle graph (think lie detector). The pain I was experiencing was in fact, contractions. I was having one every 3-5 minutes when I arrived.

They also did an ultra sound and everything appeared to be fine – in fact, we got lots of awesome pics - but the ultra sound did expose the fibroid - which is a non-malignant tumor/mass of cells that feeds off of pregnancy hormones and grows b/c of the hormones. They gave me some ibuprofen and did urine, blood tests and everything was fine. The ibuprofen decreased the swelling and slowed down the contractions. When I was examined (sorry, I know WTMI), on-call doc said she WAS concerned because my uterus was thinning out (which as you know is what happens before you start dilating).

I, of course, asked 1,000 questions - one of which was if exercise could have possibly caused this and the doc said absolutely NOT - that clearly something else is happening with the fibroid but she wanted me to talk to my regular doctor so gave me little info. After confirming that my contractions had slowed and I wasn't in danger of miscarrying, they released us at 4:30pm - again with very little information or explanation for why I was having contractions (outside of the ultrasound tech who said that she has known people who have fibroids and go into preterm because the body is trying to reject the fibroid).

I felt ok when I left but the pain was excruciating that night so I took some more ibuprofen (doc approved) which thankfully got me through the night and I got some sleep. Monday I felt good in the morning but by about 1pm I was in serious pain again and that night the pain was horrible and the only thing that made me feel better was getting in the bath tub. I took ibuprofen to sleep.

Yesterday I had a doc appointment with my regular OBGYN and I was very disappointed. Basically she, as suspected, treated me like a whiny wimpy first time pregnancy. "The baby is fine. The pain it probably just your uterus and ligaments changing position. This is just part of pregnancy. I will give you something to help you manage the pain if you absolutely MUST take something." Then she asked me if I could take some time off work....my response was that I sit most of the day anyway so what would taking time off work do and of course, she didn't have an answer. She said my cervix and uterus looked fine. The more I asked, the more irritated she got with me. I will see her again in four weeks. Gave me a prescription for Percocet. No explanation for why Sunday happened or any information about the fibroid or why I am having so much constant extreme pain.

Throughout my pregnancy, I have not been impressed with her when I have asked more difficult or in depth questions. I could give you guys lots of examples but the BEST example is the fact that I was in her office for all of about 7 minutes yesterday and walked out with absolutely no more information on what happened on Sunday and what that meant for my body going forward.

Needless to say, I have been asking around to get a new OBGYN and am switchign immediately. I have two doctors that I will be considering....but it has really been a struggle. My cousin, an OBGYN nurse with years of experience, summed it up for me: "Cuz (she is from deep, deep Louisiana), there are good doctor's out there and bad doctor's, jus like there are good cooks and bad cooks, good singers and bad singers....and your lil ole doc, she jus wants to deal with textbook pregnancies. Minute she gets a prob'm she just gets that patient right out the door. But girl, you got to get somebody you can talk to....you need some answers girl!"

And she is exactly right. :) I am MOVING on.

As you can imagine, I am having lots of emotions. It is really scary, especially after not having ANY problems. I am so happy the baby is healthy....of course, the doc did tell me to take it easy until I started feeling better so I am officially off of the workouts - which I am ok with since I have said all along I would stop when my body or baby told me to stop. And who knows what the future holds but for a few more months I can hang tight and just enjoy the extra time I have to focus on other things - reading, blogging :), talking to friends, sleeping, preparing for baby!

Today has been better for pain...didn't really start until around 4pm (normally starts around 12 or 1pm)...and I am curious to see what happens tonight when I try to sleep. I slept last night without any pain meds (YEAH!) and I really don't want to take Percocet - even if she prescribed it. Maybe this is just a blip on the radar screen...I hope so but I am going to do everything in my power to make sure the baby is safe and sound.

Through it all, Jody has been amazing - as always - asking how I am doing every 30 minutes. He is really worried and wants our little baby to be happy and healthy along with mommy. And it is great being married to your best friend in situations like this. He is awesome, of course.

Sorry I haven't been on all of your blogs lately...hope you all understand. And if ANY of you have any insight or have had a similar pregnancy experience....would love to hear your experience. Email if you don't want to post in comments.

Love you guys...

Jess

P.S. I have a major baby bump. It literally just popped out on Monday but now that I know I have a baby AND a tangerine in there, it makes sense to have a bump. :) Can't wait to show you pics.